THE COMMON SWALLOW. 379 



one exception, within the sphere of man's works.* In some parts 

 of the county of Down, there was some years ago, and probably 

 still is, a superstitious feeling against the destruction of swallows, 

 when they build in cow-houses. The owners On such occasions 

 were most particular in cautioning their children and others not 

 to injure the birds, their eggs, or young, imagining that if they 

 did so, some evil would befal the cattle ; that they would 

 give blood instead of milk, &c. Indeed, in the north of Ireland 

 generally, the destruction of any of the swallow tribe is commonly 

 considered an act of wanton cruelty. Their familiarity, and the 

 trust which — like the robin — they repose in man, render them 

 general favourites. 



In the north of Ireland, I have never known the nest of the 

 swallow to be built in chimneys, although on account of 

 its predilection for building within them, the species has re- 

 ceived the name of chimney-swallow in different languages.f 

 White remarks in his Natural History of Selborne (letter 18), 

 that " in general with us this Hirundo breeds in chimneys ; and 

 loves to haunt those stacks where there is a constant fire, no 

 doubt for the sake of warmth. Not that it can subsist in the im- 

 mediate shaft where there is a fire, but prefers one adjoining to 

 that of the kitchen, and disregards the perpetual smoke of the 

 funnel, as I have often observed with some degree of wonder.'" 

 It is singular that in certain countries only, the Hirundo rustica 

 should thus be partial to chimneys. That these are preferred for 



* Mr. Hepburn states that he has " seen nests of this species on the rocks about 

 Tantallon Castle, opposite the Bass."- — Macgillivray's British Birds, vol. iii. p. 569. 

 Sir Wm. Jardine mentions the H. urbica as building there, in his edition of Wilson's 

 Amer. Orn., vol. iii. p. 320. 



f Chimneys are stated in general terms by White, Pennant, Bewick, Montagu, 

 Selby, Yarreli, &c, (Montagu adds, that "it is not unusual to find the nest in out- 

 houses, upon beams or rafters ") to be usually resorted to in England for this pur- 

 pose. The sites preferred in Scotland, according to Sir Wm. Jardine and Mr. Mac- 

 gillivray, are similar to those above stated to be selected in Ireland. What Mr. 

 Hepburn says of East Lothian exactly applies to the north of Ireland. He remarks 

 that the nest " is built under arches, gateways, eaves and water-spouts, against the 

 beams, rafters and lintels of outhouses, and under wooden bridges." — Macgillivray's 

 British Birds, vol. iii. p. 569. Detailed information on the subject of the sites 

 selected by the swallow for its nest in Scotland, from the pen of Mr. Durham Weir, 

 and agreeing with my own observation in Ireland, will be found in Audubon's Orn. 

 Biog., vol. v. p. 411, &c. 



